AP World History Course Outline and Objectives
A. The students will know:
1. All basic features of world geography
a. oceans
b. seas
c. continents
d. major rivers and deserts
e. major mountain rages and passes
f. location of major kingdoms and civilizations
1)
2) 4 river valley civilizations
3) Abbasid caliphate
4)
5) Han and Tang Dynasties
6)
7) Mayan, Inca and Aztec civilizations
2. Structure and character of basic systems of economics
a. Agricultural and Pastoral
b. The impact of surplus and trade
c. The impact of technology: bronze, iron, the plow, the stirrup
d. The demographic and political tendencies of economic systems
1) nomadic
2) urbanization
3) city-states
3. The
crises of Civilizations from the
a. the impact of migration
1) the Huns
2) Germanic tribes
3) The Arabs
b. the emergence of new empires and political systems
1) Tang Dynasty
2)
3) European and Japanese feudalism
4) Arab Caliphates
4. Religious and Cultural systems
a. Basic Tenets of world religions
1) Buddhism
2) Christianity
3) Confucianism
4) Taoism
5) Hellenism
6) Hinduism
7) Islam
8) Judaism
b. The basic structures and legitimization of Social systems/hierarchies.
1) Hindu and feudal caste systems
2) Confucian social hierarchy
3) Patriarchal family structures and their religious approbations
5. Primary cultural encounters between 700 and 1000
a. Buddhist, Christian, and Islamic missionary movements
b. Global trading patterns
1)
2)
3) East European
4) Trans-Saharan
c. the role of
nomadic groups in
d. the impact of the
Bantu migrations in
6. Issues relating to the historians craft
a. definition of and problems concerning the term “civilization.”
b. connection and diffusion versus independent invention as
agents of historical change
B. Questions and Issues
1. What are the ways in which the great world religions supported social hierarchies?
2. How was the role of women different among adherents to Christianity, Hinduism, Confucianism, and Buddhism?
3. What role did nomadic groups play in the fall of empires? What role did they play in the dissemination of culture and technology?
4. Why was the
collapse of empire in the west more severe than in the eastern
5. In what ways are urban societies and cultures different from pastoral ones?
6. How was the Indian political system different from the Chinese political system? How were they similar? How were the powers and authority of the Islamic caliphates different from that of the Roman Emperors?
7. How was the
trans-Saharan trading system similar to the
8. In the year 1000 where were the major political powers located? Where were the major trade routes?
C. Key Terms
hunting and gathering: means of obtaining subsistence by humans before the mastery of sedentary agriculture; normally typical of band social organization.
civilization: societies with reliance on sedentary agriculture, ability to produce food surpluses, and existence of nonfarming elites, along with merchant and manufacturing groups.
Paleolithic: the Old Stone Age ending in 12,000 B.C.E.; typified by use of evolving stone tools and hunting and gathering for subsistence.
Neolithic: the New Stone Age between 8000 and 5000 B.C.E.; period in which adaptation of sedentary agriculture occurred; domestication of plants and animals accomplished.
nomads: cattle- and sheep-herding societies normally found on the fringes of civilized societies; commonly referred to as "barbarian" by civilized societies.
"savages": societies engaged in either hunting and gathering for subsistence or in migratory cultivation; not as stratified or specialized as civilized and nomadic societies.
culture: combinations of ideas, objects, and patterns of behavior that result from human social interaction.
band: a level of social organization normally consisting of between 20 and 30 people; nomadic hunters and gatherers; labor divided on a gender basis.
agrarian revolution: occurred between 8000 and 5000 B.C.E.; transition from hunting and gathering to sedentary agriculture.
matrilineal: family descent and inheritance traced through the female line.
pastoralism: a nomadic agricultural life-style based on herding domesticated animals; tended to produce independent people capable of challenging sedentary agricultural societies.
Huanghe or Yellow river basin: site of the
development of sedentary agriculture in
Bronze Age: from 4000 to 3000 B.C.E.; increased use of plow, metalworking; development of wheeled vehicles, writing.
Sumerians: people who migrated into
cuneiform: a form of writing developed by the Sumerians using a wedge‑shaped stylus and clay tablets.
city-state: a form of political organization typical of Mesopotamian civilization; consisted of agricultural hinterlands ruled by an urban‑based king.
Epic of Gilgamesh: the first literary epic; written down ca. 2000 B.C.E.; included story of the Great Flood.
ziggurats: massive towers usually associated with Mesopotamian temple connections.
animism: a religious outlook that recognizes gods in many aspects of nature and propitiates them to help control and explain nature; typical of Mesopotamian religions.
Hammurabi: the most important Babylonian ruler; responsible for codification of the law.
Aknenaton: Egyptian pharaoh of the
pyramids:
monumental architecture typical of
mummification: act of preserving the bodies of the
dead; practiced in
hieroglyphs:
form of writing developed in ancient
patriarchate: societies in which women defer to men; societies run by men and based upon the assumption that men naturally directed political, economic, and cultural life.
Yahweh: the single god of the Hebrews; constructed a covenant with Jews as his chosen people.
monotheism: the exclusive worship of one god; introdueed by Jews into Middle Eastern civilization.
Minoans: a civilization that developed on
Phoenicians: seafaring civilization
located on the shores of the eastern
Hittites: an Indo‑European people
who entered
monsoons: seasonal winds crossing the Indian
sub-continent and
Harappan civilization: first civilization of the Indian subcontinent; emerged in
Aryans: Indo-European nomadic, warlike, pastoralists who replaced Harappan civilization.
Vedas: Aryan hymns originally transmitted orally; written down in sacred books from the 6th century B.C.E.
caste system: rigid system of social classification introduced by Aryans.
varnas: clusters of caste groups; four social castes: brahmans (priests), warriors, merchants, peasants; beneath them were the untouchables.
polygamy: marriage practice in which one husband had several wives; present in Aryan society.
polyandry: marriage practice in which one woman had several husbands; recounted in Aryan epics.
patrilineal: social system in which descent and inheritance is passed through the male line; typical of Aryan society.
Huanghe river: river flowing from the Tibetan plateau to the
extended families: consisted of several generations, including sons and grandsons of
family patriarch and their families; typical of Shang
nuclear households: husband, wife, and their children, and perhaps a few other relatives; typical of Chinese peasantry.
oracles: shamans or priests in Chinese society who foretold the future through interpreting animal bones cracked by heat; inscriptions on bones led to Chinese writing.
Zhou: originally a vassal family of the Shang; possibly Turkic in origin; overthrew Shang and established 2nd Chinese dynasty.
feudalism: social organization created by exchanging grants of land (fiefs) in return for formal oaths of allegiance and promises of loyal service; typical of Zhou dynasty.
Mandate of Heaven: the divine source of political legitimacy in
Aryans: Indo-European invaders of the
chichimecs:
American hunting and gathering groups; largely responsible for the
disruption of early civilization in
shifting cultivation: an intermediate form of ecological adaptation in which temporary forms of cultivation are carried out with limited impact on the natural ecology.
slash-and-burn farming: a system of cultivation typical of shifting cultivators; vegetation cleared by fire and land planted.
pastoral nomads: an intermediate form of ecological adaptation dependent on domesticated animal herds that feed on natural environment; supports larger population than shifting cultivation.
Hsiung-nu: also known as Huns; horse nomads responsible for disruption of Chinese, Gupta, and Roman civilizations.
shamans: religious experts among the nomads.
silk route: the most famous of the trading routes established by pastoral nomads connecting European, Indian, and Chinese civilizations; transmitted goods and ideas.